Portrait of the three Andrews Sisters, from top: LaVerne, Patty, and Maxene, April 7, 1952.

The Andrews Sisters hold a singular place among the many famous Minnesota-born musical talents who have made it big. Rising to fame in the swing era of the late 1930s, they developed their successful close-harmony formula early on. Patty, the blond mezzo-soprano, sang lead; Maxene, the brunette, sang soprano; and LaVerne, the redhead, sang contralto. The trio recorded more than six hundred songs, sold over ninety million records, earned fifteen gold records, and had a dozen number-one hits. Forty-six of their tunes made it to the Billboard Top Ten chart—more than either Elvis Presley or The Beatles.

The sisters were born to an unlikely couple. Peter Andreos (changed to Andrews by immigration officials) emigrated from Greece to Minneapolis, where he rented a room from a Norwegian family. In 1910 he married the landlord's daughter, Olga Sollie. He told his bride he wanted a giant family—ten strapping boys. Instead, he got LaVerne Sophia (b. 1911), Maxine "Maxene" Angelyn (b. 1916), and Patricia Marie (b. 1918). When they were little, the three mimicked their favorite singing group, the popular Boswell Sisters.

In 1931 the sisters won a talent contest at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis, and were invited to join the traveling vaudeville troupe that had hosted it. After nearly six years of struggling for small-time gigs, the sisters were on the verge of quitting show business. But in 1937 they sang on the Saturday Night Swing Club radio show, broadcast from the Edison Hotel in New York City. The following night, they sat in the Edison's soda fountain, hoisting a final toast to their failed dreams.

In her 1993 memoir Over Here, Over There, Maxene wrote about that night. As they sat in the soda fountain, in walked a man with pointed-toe shoes and a wide, snap-brim hat. In a gruff New York tone, he announced he was looking for the Andrews Sisters.

Their first major hit was a song based on a Yiddish folk tune, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schön" (To Me, You Are Beautiful). It sold seventy-five thousand copies and rocketed to the Billboard magazine chart's number-one slot in January 1938.

Two years later, they signed a contract with Universal Pictures. In 1941 they made three movies, including Buck Privates, starring the comic duo Abbott and Costello. It featured two of the Andrews's biggest hits, "(I'll Be with You) In Apple Blossom Time" and "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy."

During World War II, the Andrews Sisters entertained extensively on the home front, visiting military bases and hospitals. In the summer of 1945 they took an eight-week overseas tour, singing for the troops on behalf of the United Services Organization (USO).

The Andrews Sisters recorded new hits after the war, including "I Can Dream, Can't I?" (1949), and they all married. But big changes in their lives were on the way. Their mother died in 1948, their father in 1949. Maxene was divorced in 1949, Patty in 1950.

The sisters had long been squabblers. For thirteen weeks in 1940, for instance, they sang together but did not speak to one another. Now, having lost many of their key supporters—their arranger, manager, record-label president, parents, and spouses—they also lost the will to maintain the trio. In 1953 Patty left to pursue solo work.

In 1956 the three sisters appeared together on a TV special. After the show, they were flooded with fan mail. That June the trio officially reunited, resuming an active recording and performing career that lasted well into the 1960s. In 1967 LaVerne died of liver cancer. Patty and Maxene decided to continue performing separately.

But they began fighting again. In March 1974 they opened on Broadway in Over Here!, a nostalgic World War II musical. The show was hugely successful, but it abruptly closed early the following year due to disputes between the sisters and with the producers.

During the next two decades, the two sisters never reconciled but did perform separately. Maxene died of a heart attack in 1995. Patty died in 2013, at her home in Glendale, California.

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Turning Point

In 1937, having failed for nearly six years to find success, the Andrews Sisters perform on the Saturday Night Swing Club radio show, broadcast from the Edison Hotel in New York City. Riding in a cab, Decca Records president Jack Kapp hears their song, and asks them to audition for his label.

Chronology

1931

Larry Rich and His Oompahs host a Minneapolis talent contest in June in which the Andrews Sisters win first prize. Rich invites them to join his traveling vaudeville troupe.

1932

Rich disbands his troupe in April. The sisters spend the next five years going from one small-bit singing gig to the next, chaperoned by their parents.

1936

A fire in June destroys the Andrews Sisters’ stage costumes and vocal arrangements. They return to Minnesota and their father says that the family should give up the show-biz life. The sisters plead for one more chance.

1937

The Andrews Sisters sing on the Saturday Night Swing Club radio show in New York. Decca Records President Jack Kapp hears their song, invites them to audition, and offers them a contract.

1938

“Bei Mir Bist Du Schön” reaches number one on the Billboard magazine chart on January 1.

1941

The sisters appear in Universal Pictures’ three top-grossing films of the year: In the Navy, Hold That Ghost, and Buck Privates.

1944

“Don’t Fence Me In,” sung with Bing Crosby, hits number one on the Billboard chart on November 25.

1945

On January 6, the trio’s “Rum and Coca Cola” hits number one on the Billboard chart, staying in that slot for ten weeks.

1953

Patty leaves the trio in December.

1956

The sisters reunite as a trio in June and resume an active recording and touring career.

1967

LaVerne dies of liver cancer on May 8.

1974

The musical Over Here!, starring Patty and Maxene, opens at New York’s Shubert Theatre on March 6.

1975

Despite great success, Over Here! abruptly closes in January after disagreements among the sisters and with the show’s producers.

1987

Having not spoken for years, Maxene and Patty briefly reunite on October 1 to receive an Andrews Sisters star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1995

Maxene dies of a heart attack on October 21 while vacationing on Cape Cod.